The fourth European project of the Réseau Art Nouveau Network "Art Nouveau & Ecology" plans a series of five historical labs aiming to share the knowledge at a European level. The free study days combines research, experience and know-how to reach professionals and Art Nouveau lovers.
Historical Lab 1The Art Nouveau Herbarium, Terrassa, 3 June 2010Programme and abstracts (French, English and Catalan)

The cemeterial sculpture in Northern Italy, between nature and symbol Based on the close relationship linking landscape and cemeteries in many European countries, the study is to identify certain types of funerary sculpture between the end of ‘800 and the beginning of ‘900, especially related to the theme of nature and flowers.Through the examples of some well-known and other lesser-known monuments in cemeteries of Northern Italy - the Monumental of Milan, the Staglieno of Genoa, the Cemetery of Turin and the minor ones of Mantova and Pavia - where the most significant sculptors of Liberty worked – like Bistolfi, Barons, Cassi, Monteverde, Pasciutti, Baroni and Bialetti-Bazzaro– we underline the transition from Naturalism to Art Nouveau, from the realistic representation of the vegetable element to the symbolic, from the floral ornate accompanying the figure to the syntheticism between the figure itself and the phytomorphic decorum in a plastic "unique" with strong, spiritual values.

Decorative plant motifs in Art Nouveau pharmacies in Barcelona The research analyses 24 pharmacies in Barcelona that have preserved their Art Nouveau decoration. The study encompasses three disciplines: History of Art, Pharmacology and Botany. Plant motifs are the predominating theme, with a total of 216 elements corresponding to 77 different types of plants and flowers. Most are plants with medicinal properties that were used in medicine and pharmacology in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. There is therefore a clear relationship between the functions of the establishment and the artistic motifs depicted.En el treball d’investigació s’analitzen les 24 farmàcies existents a Barcelona que conserven decoració de l’època del Modernisme. Es tracta d’un estudi interdisciplinari relacionant tres disciplines: Història de l’Art, Farmàcia i Botànica. L’ornamentació vegetal és el tema predominant amb un total de 216 motius vegetals representants que corresponen a 77 tipus de plantes i flors diferents. La gran part d’aquestes corresponen a plantes d’usos medicinals que s’aplicaven en la medicina i la farmacopea de finals del segle XIX i començaments del XX. Per tant, estem davant d’un predomini de l’adequació entre la funció de l’establiment i la decoració artística representada.